5 - Political change and the provision of public services

Summary

This chapter explores the question of whether the political orientation of the party in power influences public policies. A large body of research exists on the reasons behind the repeated triumph of the left in Mexico City and the association between this electoral behaviour and the Latin American left turn observed in the past decade, especially in presidential elections, often linked to the rejection of the free-market economy and government performance (Baker & Greene 2011). In this chapter, however, we will focus on identifying some of the features of the administrations led by governments that emerged from the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) between 1997 and 2018, without exploring the causes that might explain this electoral behaviour.

The purpose of analysing the impact of two decades of leftist administrations on the government of Mexico City regarding the way certain public services are produced and supplied is to determine whether those governments have shared features (continuities) that characterize the way the PRD governs this metropolis. This, in turn, will raise questions regarding whether this form of governance is typical of the behaviour of leftist governments in other metropolises. The underlying question is ultimately whether polity influences policy. More than 20 years after the election of the first Head of Government of the Federal District, several questions have arisen regarding the changes in public service production and supply. The first concerns whether there have been modifications in the way the city is governed, how they have been expressed and whether they can be explained by the political orientation of the incumbent government.

Academic discussions on urban public services explore the distinction between production and provision. Government provision does not involve government production. The idea that incorporating competition into local service production encourages efficient public resource use has been floated in privatization reforms for decades (Tiebout 1956; Ostrom et al. 1961). Another recurring issue in the discussion on services refers to universality, in terms of coverage, but also the quality of the services provided, regardless of the social status or location of residents. Academic production has explored the production of services, using an approach that underlines the tension between efficiency and coverage, or rather their supply (Badley 1996, 2001).